1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to connector structures for connecting wires to printed boards and the like.
2. Background
There has been a connector for printed boards that is inserted into and fitted with a mating case that has a printed board and the like arranged so that electric conduction is established with the printed board.
An example of such a connector, which is disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei. 5-36778, will be described with reference to FIGS. 8A to 9. A connector 100 is constructed in such a manner that a terminal 103 having a wire 105 connected thereto is accommodated in a terminal accommodating chamber 102 formed in a housing main body 101 and that an electric contact piece 104 of the terminal 103 is allowed to be exposed, the electric contact piece 104 being electrically connected with a terminal of a printed board arranged within a hollow portion of a not shown mating case when the connector 100 is inserted into and fitted with the hollow portion of the mating case.
That is, the housing main body 101 is constructed in such a manner that a cover 106 for protecting the electric contact piece 104 is slidably attached to the housing main body. The electric contact piece 104 is exposed by opening the cover 106 at the time of fitting the connector 100.
Further, the connector 100 has a retainer 107 that is releasable from the housing main body 101.
As shown in FIG. 8A, the retainer 107 allows the terminal 103 to be inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 102 under a temporarily retained condition in which the retainer 107 is slightly floating from the outer surface of the housing main body 101. Further, as shown in FIG. 8B, the retainer 107 has a projection 107a that is engageable with the rear end of the terminal 103 under a regularly retained condition in which the retainer 107 has been inserted into the housing main body 101 completely. When the projection 107a has been engaged with the terminal 103, the terminal 103 is prevented from coming off from the housing main body 101. Moreover, the retainer 107 has cover moving grooves 108, so that, as shown in FIG. 8C, the cover 106 that is slid by an opening operation at the time of fitting the connector can be accommodated thereinto.
Therefore, in the aforementioned connector 100, if the terminal 103 has been incompletely inserted, the retainer 107 is not brought into the regularly retained condition from the temporarily retained condition with the projection 107a interfering with the terminal 103 as shown in FIG. 9, so that the cover moving grooves 108 are not set to predetermined positions. Accordingly, the cover 106 is blocked from sliding in the opening direction, which in turn contributes to detecting incomplete insertion of the terminal 103 satisfactorily.
By the way, during the connector 100 assembling process, the housing main body 101 is transported with the retainer 107 held under the temporarily retained condition, and the terminal 103 is thereafter inserted into the housing main body 101 in the next process. However, in this assembling process, the retainer 107 is transported to the next process while slightly floating from the outer surface of the housing main body 101. Therefore, the retainer 107 is pressed down during the transportation to thereby be brought into the regularly retained condition from the temporarily retained condition easily. Therefore, in the next process, the retainer 107 that is once regularly retained in the housing main body 101 must be brought back to the temporarily retained condition by pulling while keeping such retainer 107 unlocked, and then the terminal must be assembled to the housing. Hence, assembling operability has been impaired.
Further, the retainer 107 is inserted into the opening that has such a shape as to occupy the majority of the rear surface (the right half surface portion shown in the drawings) of the housing main body 101. Therefore, the rigidity of the housing main body 101 has been reduced.